Storing a LOT of meat?

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ArmedBear

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I've been invited to go on a buffalo hunt on a huge ranch in Montana. From what I'm told, it's pretty much a done deal that you bring home a buffalo. The herd is huge, and these guys know what they're doing.

So...

I live in a townhouse up a hill from the beach. We have no land to speak of. I don't have, nor can I put up, something like a big outbuilding with a walk-in freezer, or anyplace to put a huge freezer.

They're talking about taking the meat to some incredibly good butcher that turns your buffalo into about 800 pounds of steak, bratwurst, breakfast sausage, you name it.

This is not a problem I've ever had to think about when hunting quail!

How much meat is 800 pounds? It's hard to get a picture of what that means.

Are there commercial meat storage facilities where I could rent a few square feet of floor space without spending more than the meat's worth?

Any other ideas?

Even if we give some away for Christmas or whatever, to everyone we know, we'll still have more meat than I've ever seen in one place. And it's so good, from what I hear, I'd hate to waste an ounce.

Thanks in advance for suggestions and input!:)
 
And that is exactly why I haven't been elk hunting, well, that and a lack of a couple grand. What in the world would I do with hundreds of pounds of meat. I don't want it to go to waste, and there is NO WAY that I'm eating the same meat for a year.

My problem is not quite the same as yours, as I could easily find room for it. I just don't know what I'd do with it.

There are some places that will allow you to donate the meat. I'm not sure if you are interested in that, though.
 
It seems there's a Sportsmen/Hunters Feeding the Hungry chapter in Southern California. But even if I donate meat, logistics would be infinitely easier if I could store it. California is a big place, and the contact guy is a couple hours from here.
 
Where are you going hunting exactly? There are several organizations in MT that will take game off of your hands. Most cities have a rescue mission that will take game, the various food banks take it as well. In Great Falls there is even a 24 hour drop where you drive up the behind the rescue mission and hit the buzzer. As long as it is processed they will take it. Most of the geese I shoot get taken care of that way. If you could pull it off, donating it here would prevent having to get it back home and storing it.

Also, any of the Indian tribes will happily take Buffalo.

As far as scale, I got a Buffalo last year and split it 6 ways (bought it from the rancher by Arlee, not hunting but I got to pick it out of the herd). My 1/6 filled a brand new small chest freezer in it's entirety. That was 150 pounds.

You will cry after eating Buffalo and eventually have to go back to beef. The best steak I have ever had of any species was a rib steak from that buffalo done on a weber charcoal grill. Nothing before or since has ever compared. Cooking is simple, pretend it is Elk or really lean beef.
 
Frozen meat can vary from 35-50 pounds per cubic foot, depending on how it is wrapped, amount of bone, and shape of the cut. If you figure based on the 35# ft3 (most room used) you would need 23ft3 to store 800lbs. 3'X3'x3' is 27 ft3 (more than enough) so you don't need a huge walk in freezer (I'm not even sure you can get a deep freeze that small). If you run out of room PM me for my address, I'll help you out.
 
Without measuring it, I can't be exact, but my deep freezer is probably 15cu.ft or so. I was able to fit a cow elk into it (after cutting and wrapping) with a little room to spare. I'd guess that I had close to 200# of boned out meat. So, for an entire buffalo you'd need the equivalent of 3-4 of my freezers. But in reality that's not practical of course. You'd never be able to eat that much meat before it would go bad (yes, frozen meat will eventually spoil). IIRC you have one kid, and (s)he is probably still in diapers. You and Ellie would lucky to get through more than 1/3 of that meat before it started to go off. So, either donating most of it to charity in MT, or giving a bunch to friends/family or some combination thereof will be the only way to effectivly use the meat up in time. That or find 3-5 other guys to go in on the buffalo with you.
 
I was at a meat locker in Belle Fouche, SD having some deer meat frozen last year that we had butchered and he rented out these drawers in a big walk in freezer. He charged $5 a month and each bin held around 300 lbs. I'm sure you can find somewhere like that where you live to store it. He had 2 buffalo that he was butchering and one of them yielded over 900 lbs of meat. I have a homemade 350 qt cooler and can put close to 400 lbs of frozen meat in it. That's about 11 cubic feet or so. If your having sausage made, there will be a little pork added to bulk it up a bit. So to be on the safe side, you'll probably need a minimum of 25 cubic feet.
 
Look into renting space at a meat locker. probably your best option. If you can find room for a small freezer at home, that will hold some of it. I try not to have all my meat in the same place because occaisionally freezers fail, power fails, etc.
You might ask a friend with more space (basement, garage, etc) if he would let you put a freezer in and share the meat in return for electricity and space?
I use a 18ft chest freezer and a 13ft upright freezer at home and an additional freezer at my mother's house 15 miles away for my deer and elk, etc.
 
When I hunt something on that size, I keep the best cuts, give some to friends / family AND to the needy. A lot of areas have "Hunters for the Homeless" or something like that. A group of hunters that donate some or all of their "kill" to hungry people / soup kitchens and the like.

Have fun!
 
Convert the whole buffalo to jerky! That will take up less space, not require freezing, and keep forever! :p










Disclaimer: I am not actually advocating this, it would be a horrible waste of fine meat and could get you summarily executed in some circles.
 
One other option...

There are some resteraunts that offer Buffalo and sell it on the menu, same with some grocery stores. You might could call them and advise you are going buffalo hunting and see if they would be interested in buying and if they are do they have any thoughts.

I saw this cuz buffalo is costly and is gaining popularity for it's leaness and tastyness...
 
Mbt2001, I'm guessing that buffalo meat served in restaurants and sold in grocery stores like Fred Meyer's here in Idaho is USDA inspected. I doubt Armed Bear's buffalo meat will be. I'd eat it. In fact Armed Bear, I'll gladly take some of it off your hands if you'll stop by the place on your way back to San Diego after your hunt.:D However, if I owned a restaurant or a grocery store like my folks did, I wouldn't sell non USDA inspected meat through it on a dare.
I wish I had some advice Armed Bear. We had to rent a meat locker for quite a few years before we bought a place big enough to have our own deep freeze. But I don't know if there are places down there in San Diego where you can still rent meat lockers or not. Other than that, you might have to give early Christmas gifts of delicious, lean meat to a lot of friends and relatives with freezers.
 
A freezer in the back bedroom? or rent a locker if that service is still available in So cal. We did but that was many years ago. Is it Pacific Beach? just before you cross the bay? or from the north going over to Mission Beach that had or has the good BBQ place? Been so many years I forget, maybe you could talk those guys into cooking a front quarter for you.
 
OK, my nagging question is this. I assume your going to have it processed in MT where you're hunting. How the heck are you going to transport potentially close to a half a ton of meat from MT to San Diego?

Any chance you'll be swinging by the Seattle area on your way home? I could save you a lot of gas money by offloading a bit of it.
 
Plan "B"

I'll bring 20 Kegs, 200 Lbs of charcoal, 10 gallons of BBQ sauce and you can invite your closest 400 friends... Problem solved.:D
 
How the heck are you going to transport potentially close to a half a ton of meat from MT to San Diego?
Click to expand...
Transport should not be to difficult. Sheets of Styrofoam readily available at any builders supply can be duck taped etc. into a temporary ice chest with already frozen meat and dry ice should make a trip of under 24 hours and have the meat remain frozen easily.
 
I have a friend who is a Chef with more than one Restaurant in Jackson Hole who might take some off your hands.
 
Mbt2001, I'm guessing that buffalo meat served in restaurants and sold in grocery stores like Fred Meyer's here in Idaho is USDA inspected. I doubt Armed Bear's buffalo meat will be.
Click to expand...

Hence the advice of calling them. I know jack about how they do that stuff, but I do know that they sell "freshly caught" fish, which is subject to the same inspection. So they may have some thoughts... Thanks for clarification on what not to do though.

Maybe Armed bear should give us his address and we can all just "turn up" after his hunt and see if his grills skills can be honed a little. ;)
 
Mbt 2001, I apologize if I offended you. I sometimes tend to come across like I think I'm a know-it-all.
Yeah ArmedBear, what about Mbt's suggestion? All of my in-laws are located in the San Diego area. A buffalo barbeque at your place would be the high point of my next visit down there.:D
 
Well, I don't think it's bad luck to plan for where to store the meat, should the hunt be fruitful.

However, I do think it's TERRIBLY bad luck to offer anyone barbecued meat while it's still on a buffalo running around someplace a thousand miles from here!:p

(Just so you don't think I'm being inhospitable.)

That said, if I ever do have that much meat to deal with, I won't want any to go to waste, one way or another.

Thanks for the replies. I've got to go talk to local butcher shops or wherever else they'd have freezers. It sounds like I could fit it in a chest freezer, too. I'm doing the grand garage cleanup right now. I might look and see if it will fit anywhere, with some creative shelving or something. Electricity here is expensive, too, but so is buffalo meat.
 
I can put 800# in a smallish chest freezer. I harvest a buff every other year & a friend does so on the off year. We split the hunt fee each year & pay for our own tanning, skull mount, & cut & wrap as applicable. Have a robe & a skull done each, so now it's just the fee & processing & it's a great January break. The 400# I put in the freezer last year cost me less than $2.00/pound . . . and it's GOOD (I prefer young bull; seems to be the most tender). Enjoy the opportunity.
 
I've got a Brother in Helena and a Brother-in-Law in Great Falls. I know they would take some off your hands. :scrutiny:

The Hunters Feeding the Homeless program or the like is good also. When I take an third deer I always donate it.

You can always ship some to me. ;)

Selling game meat is illegal. (aka Market Hunting.) The buffalo, elk, venison etc. you see in meat markets and/or restaraunts come from game farms, not hunters. Yes, it has to be USDA inspected and all....

The giant BBQ for 400 of your closest friends, is a great idea (everyone bring a covered dish !! :D:D:D)
 
Donate a bunch of it locally if possible and, for a fraction of the cost of your hunt, buy a bigger freezer. If you find yourself with a lot of leftover meat that won't squeeze into your freezer, turn a lot of it into jerky. Jerky can reduce 400 pounds of meat into roughly two ziplock bags worth of jerky, in my experience.

Okay, so I exaggerate...a little.
 
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